A Woman in Her Monthly Cycle

"Yo, boss, fancy finding you here."

Luke stared at the source of the voice and found an all too familiar figure, bare-chested, standing dozens of metres away from them.

"Rin," Luke called, "is that you?"

There was no mistake. That grin could only belong to Rin. Luke concluded as they drew closer. He sighed in relief, finding a friend here.

Rin remained on his spot, looking at them approaching with the zombies trailing behind, screeching all the way.

"Why are you standing here like a dimwit?" Luke shouted at him. "Do something. Help us get away from this crisis."

They were three of them now, but if Rin kept even half of his awesomeness of how he played in the league, then they could deal with this with ease.

However, to his plea, Rin tilted his head more as his grin widened. He stood there like that, grinning, until the two joined them. His eyes darted to the young woman once, and it returned to Luke again, as he joined them in the rush.

"Say something, for God's sake," Luke shouted again.

"It's good to see you here," Rin finally said as his eyes drew towards the flask tied up on Luke's hips. "Do you have water?"

"Yes," Luke answered, gasping. "But first, let's deal with the zombies first."

"Nah, I want water first."

"You could have all the water after we deal with the zombies."

"But it's empty," the young woman cut in, her eyes wavering.

Rin gave his former boss an incredulous look, clicking his tongue. Then he drew towards the young woman. "Well, thank you, miss, or else I would get swindled into helping this scourge who calls himself a friend of mine."

Elise's eyes darted between the two of them, confusingly.

"Is he your friend?" she asked Luke in confusion.

Luke sighed and ignored the question. "Rin," he called again, "for the love of god, do something,"

"Why would I?" Rin taunted.

"I'm confused," Elise asked again, panting. "You two know each other, but the way you talk didn't seem . . ."

"Ahh," Luke let out in frustration. "Rin is a friend. He just likes to whine a little too much."

Rin snorted and enabled the mana cloak. A semi-invisible cloak wrapped around his body as his body weight lessened. Rin sprinted faster, overtaking the two of them easily.

"Well, good day meeting you, boss," he said. "I'm off."

"Rin, please get your ass back here. I'm serious," Luke shouted from behind, chattering his teeth in annoyance. "You want water? There's more from where it came from. Just help us this time around."

Rin slowed down a little but didn't come back, still listening to them talking though.

"He's not coming back," Elise said. "Are you sure he's still your friend?"

"Yes," Luke answered, gritting his teeth. There were too many rumours around Rin's retirement from the Esports that included the beef between the two of them as well. "Sometimes, he acts like a sassy woman going through her monthly cycle."

"Ahh." Elise didn't know how to reply to that. Her eyes drew to the newcomer and found he was straying further away. "I think he heard your comment and didn't seem to like it very much."

Luke panted, running faster. The zombies drew closer, but Rin didn't stop.

"He's not listening to me," Luke said, shaking his head. "Fine, runaway, some friend you are."

"What are we going to do?" Elise almost started crying again.

"You try," Luke said. "I know Rin. He's only doing this to piss me off. He won't listen to anything I have to say."

"Me? You said he's your friend, and your plea is not working. Why would he listen to me then?"

"Because," Luke whispered, "you're a woman."

Elise gave him an incredulous look.

"No, it's not sexist or anything. Rin is somewhat sensitive when it comes to women. No, not somewhat, but a lot. Just try, and don't shy away from showing your emotions. It works wonders as far as I've seen."

"Well, I guess, there's nothing else left to try." Elise coughed a couple of times, looking towards the moving figure of Rin.

"Good Sir," she called, her voice wavering a little. She was already exhausted as hell. There was no energy to draw on superficial emotions. "Please, I have nothing against you. I don't know what Luke did to you, but I barely know him. Please, I'm begging, will you kindly help me?"

Rin slowed down a little, but didn't stop.

"Good, it's working," Luke said. "Elise, go cry now."

She gave the caption of Heaven's Virtue a flat look.

"Please, Sir," she continued, and tears did come to her eyes, but not by a lot. "Will you just watch a girl torn apart by those disgusting zombies?"

Rin slowed down more until the three of them were running side by side. He looked at the only girl in the group and found she really was crying. Well, more out of exhaustion and pain than anything else, but it was still real tears. Rin shook his head before glaring at Luke.

"Well, hello there," Rin called, coming next to Elise, "I'm afraid we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Rin. You may have heard of me."

Elise blinked, finding Rin drawing his hand for a handshake in such circumstances. She followed, nonetheless. She was meeting a celebrity for all that mattered.

"I'm Elise."

"Well, nice to meet you, Elise." Rin shook her hand while they ran. The Zombies were only ten paces away. "I'm sorry for all the trouble this scoundrel friend of mine caused you."

"I think you go by the term scoundrel more than me, Rin."

"Shut up, dork," Rin snapped at Luke, "nobody's talking to you."

"I'm missing Leila so much now," Luke muttered and readied his bow and arrows.

"Well, Elise, don't worry about the zombies," Rin said with his utmost confidence, brandishing his sword. "You girls stand by while I deal with them."

"You're going to go alone?" Elise asked, eyes darting from Rin to Luke.

"Yes."

"Seriously, Rin," Luke asked. "How are you going to deal with a dozen of them on your own?"

"Of course, with my sheer awesomeness." Rin grinned.

Rin halted his run while the other two of them continued. He spun, launching himself at the zombies.

The zombies surrounded him in an instant, but Rin wasn't worried.